


Ah, But Underneath

by phoebesmum



Category: Sports Night
Genre: Drabble Sequence, Multi, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-21
Updated: 2010-02-21
Packaged: 2017-10-07 10:58:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/64493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoebesmum/pseuds/phoebesmum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's what's beneath the surface that matters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ah, But Underneath

**Author's Note:**

> Written November 2008 for LiveJournal's SN100 challenge #172, _Standing in Our Underwear_: seven themed drabbles.

Dan walks in, stops short, raises one eyebrow, and calmly says, "So, how'd you get Natalie mad this time?"

Casey tugs helplessly at the hem of his teeshirt in a vain bid for modesty. "I don't _know!_"

Dan crosses his arms, waiting.

"I needed to run down to the ATM, so I offered to pick up doughnuts, and Natalie said no, she was dieting –"

"And you believed her," Dan finishes. His hands are at his belt buckle.

"What are you doing?" Casey demands. He sounds anxious.

Dan smiles slowly. "Showing solidarity."

Strangely, Casey doesn't seem as grateful as you'd think.

*

"Dana?" Natalie calls. "Did you want … me …" Her voice trails away, and she blinks. "What happened?"

Dana holds up the ruins of a cream shift dress, her face tragic. "There was coffee," she says, tiny-voiced, as if that explained everything. Which it does, Natalie guesses. How the coffee got from cup to dress is irrelevant.

"I'll find you something," she promises. But all Wardrobe has to offer her is a selection of Dan and Casey's spare suits, and there's no time to run out for anything else.

Dana didn't know there were so many Annie Hall jokes in the _world_.

*

One thing Jeremy's learned from his few long-lasting relationships is that women aren't so very different from men. Underwear, for example. All those frilly, lacy, fancy things they dress up in when you're dating? Just for show. Once they've got you hooked, it's back to plain and comfortable. It's part-disappointing, partly reassuring, and he couldn't tell you which wins out.

Natalie's different. Six months on, when it comes to bedtime she could still pass for a lingerie model. And, though it shouldn't, somehow that saddens him. It's what's inside that matters. He wishes she trusted him enough to believe that.

*

Although he'd never admit it, Will truly hates these morning workouts at the Y. He's a big fan of exercise, and he appreciates the company, but what gets to him is afterward, in the showers. He does his best not to look, but he can't help but notice that Chris is a whole lot, let's say fitter, than you'd think to look at him with his clothes on, while Dave … Well. Dave is quite the man. Let's leave it there.

It's not that Will has inappropriate fantasies. He knows better than that. It's just – sometimes he feels _inadequate_. You know?

*

Some days Kim likes to treat herself.

She knows it's extravagant, frivolous, that she should save her money – for what she isn't quite sure; a rainy day? Her retirement? – but, god, the world can be a dismal, grey place if you let it. Why not brighten things up once in a while?

She checks herself out in the mirror: scarlet satin and black lace, a living, breathing Varga girl. It's a shame QVC has a dress code; a waste to cover all this up. She pulls on her tightest black sweater, checks her reflection again, and smiles.

_Look out, world!_

*

Esther undresses in the bathroom nowadays.

It began when Kathy was born, with the first cluster of stretchmarks. She laughed at herself about it, got over it for a while, but then came Ellie, and after that … just years, Isaac guesses.

He's tried to talk her out of it, to convince her that she's as beautiful still to him now as she was the first time he ever saw her. She only smiles and lets him talk, then carries on as before.

All he can do is to try his best in other ways to let her know she's loved.

*

The awkward moment seems to last forever.

It shouldn't be this difficult. They've lived close-up for years, shared hotel suites, office space, dressing rooms; they've worked out and showered together, wandered in and out on one another in any and all conceivable states of dress and undress. They've nothing to hide from each other.

It's just this: they've looked – whether or not they admitted it – but, until tonight, they've never touched.

They still haven't, each waiting for the other to make the first move.

Their eyes meet; Dan smiles. "Okay," he says softly. "I'll count us in. One, two –"

_Three_.

***


End file.
